Shikamaru's Troublesome Temari
by Chouko-chan
Summary: Temari visits Konoha as ambassador for Suna village and takes the opportunity to spend her free time with her boyfriend Shikamaru. While she is there she finds herself in a sticky situation with an assassin. Will Shikamaru be in time to save her? Or will he lose his troublesome Temari? Takes place during Shippuden. Rated T for some violence (there's nothing suggestive). Shikatema


Shikamaru was enjoying his day off lying on his favorite grassy hill staring up at the clouds in the sky and taking in what was left of the late afternoon sunshine when he was eclipsed by someone's shadow. Even with the shadow upside down from his vantage point he could tell that the person was wearing their hair in four pony tails and he only knew one person who wore her hair like that. Having deduced who was standing over him he knew that asking her to move would be pointless, so he stealthily started his shadow manipulation jutsu, used it to grab the girl around the waist, and proceeded to flip her onto the ground beside him in one fluid movement. The next thing he knew a disgruntled Temari landed on her back alongside him.

"Jerk!" she exclaimed backhanding Shikamaru squarely in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him.

"I see you're doing well," Shikamaru commented after he got his breath back.

"More or less," Temari replied cushioning her head on top of her hands to make herself comfortable, "Surprised to see me?"

"You're here for ambassador stuff, right?" asked Shikamaru with apparent disinterest.

"Yeah," Temari answered unsurprised that he had figured it out. "But I've been gone for a couple months. Did ya miss me?" she teased smiling at Shikamaru.

"I guess," Shikamaru responded still sounding bored. Temari propped herself up on an elbow and faced Shikamaru anger evident on her face.

"I've been gone for-" Temari began angrily.

"I know I know," Shikamaru cut her off sitting up and surprising Temari by pulling her into a hug. "Of course I missed you," he assured her smiling. When he released her she sat next to him and took his hand in hers. They sat that way with their hands linked, enjoying each other's company, and staring at the clouds in silence until the sky grew dark and fireflies began to buzz around them.

"I should be getting back," Temari finally decided, "I have to go to a council meeting in the morning."

"You wanna get dinner with me on the way back?" asked Shikamaru scratching his head and looking away from her.

"Sure," Temari replied happily rising to her feet. Shikamaru stood and they walked back toward the main area of town hand in hand. Just before they entered the busy restaurant district of Konoha Shikamaru released Temari's hand and put his hands in his pockets. Temari looked at him with an eyebrow raised.

"What?" asked Shikamaru innocently. She continued to stare at him until he answered her unasked question. He sighed before explaining, "My friends don't know I have a girlfriend." Temari rolled her eyes and an unamused expression settled on her face.

"So what, now you're ashamed to be with me?" she asked incredulously.

"No, no," Shikamaru quickly denied holding his hands up in front of himself, "It's just that…I'm not sure they'd understand…and explaining would be troublesome." Temari snorted and shook her head that sounded just like Shikamaru.

"Whatever," she replied indifferently. Then getting a wicked gleam in her eye a smile spread across her face as she suggested, "Why don't they find out now?" Then she quickly grabbed Shikamaru's hand and raced down the busy street weaving around people while pulling him in her wake until she found a barbeque restaurant that was full of their friends. _Perfect,_ she thought looking through the window. She proceeded to walk with Shikamaru at a normal pace until they reached the restaurant's entrance. Just before they entered Shikamaru managed to wriggle his hand out of Temari's grasp. He expected a slap in the arm or an upset response, but instead she smiled playfully at him and said, "You asked for it." She then quickly wrapped her arm around his waist and they ended up walking into the restaurant with her arm tightly secured around his waist. Shikamaru scratched his head and stared at the floor. He could feel his face becoming warmer as a deep red blush colored his cheeks. He really could not predict women.

They spotted the table where Choji, Ino, Kiba, Naruto, and Sakura were laughing as they ate their meal. Shikamaru averted his gaze as Temari steered him over to their table.

"Hey!" she greeted them smiling, "Haven't seen you guys in a while."

"Temari!" Sakura exclaimed excitedly before looking up and being dumbfounded. Temari was amused when everyone else looked up as well and began to stare wide eyed at their embrace before trying to hide the shock they were obviously feeling.

"When did you get into town?" ventured Sakura.

"This afternoon," Temari replied nonchalantly, "but of course I had to go see my boyfriend first."

"Would you like to join us?" inquired Ino unsure of what was going on, but eager to be in on it.

"Sure," Temari agreed sliding into the large booth next to Sakura and pulling Shikamaru with her. When they were seated in the booth with everyone else Temari released his waist. Shikamaru put his elbow on the table and propped his head on his hand looking out into the isle so that none of his friends, except for maybe Choji who was closest to him, could see his embarrassed expression.

"So how long have you guys been dating?" Ino asked Temari across the table fishing for every juicy detail she could get.

"About…"she turned to Shikamaru as though mentally calculating. "Five months?" she asked him.

"Six," he corrected her, reluctantly turning to join the conversation. He knew full well that she had actually remembered and had just asked to put him on the spot.

"That's right," she confirmed turning back to Ino, "six months."

"Wow!" Ino gushed, "Congratulations guys! It must be hard to maintain a long distance relationship for that long."

"I guess," Temari replied thoughtfully, "but as an ambassador for the Sand I get to come to Konoha every few months." "Plus I'm sure he has his great friends to support him," she added unable to help herself.

"Actually, he didn't tell us anything," Ino informed Temari while glaring at Shikamaru.

"Alright, go easy," Temari told Ino, "I knew that he hadn't told you guys yet. He's had his punishment."

"Nice," Ino smiled. Deciding that the cat was out of the bag anyway Shikamaru put his arm around Temari's shoulders and she stuck her tongue at him before giving him a small smile. She then turned away and ordered her food.

"Why'd you let her do that?" Choji whispered across the table to Shikamaru. Shikamaru shrugged.

"I was gonna tell you guys eventually anyway…and once Temari puts her mind to something it's a pain to try and stop her," he admitted, "Besides, she was having fun, so if you guys aren't angry at me I really don't care." Choji nodded. He thought he understood though this was a side of his friend that he hadn't seen before. After everyone had finished eating and said their goodbyes they all went their separate ways except for Temari and Shikamaru because Shikamaru had insisted on walking her to her hotel saying something like, "A man shouldn't let a woman walk alone at night." Temari would have objected saying that she was strong enough to take care of herself and that she had even saved him before, but she just went with it because she enjoyed his company. When they reached the hotel Temari leaned in to give Shikamaru a kiss on the cheek before wishing him a good night and disappearing into the building before them. After Shikamaru could no longer see Temari he put a cigarette in his mouth and lit it before putting his hands in his pockets and starting home. He knew that Temari disliked his smoking, so he usually didn't smoke around her because he knew that she would just steal the cigarette and stomp on it while reminding him that she hated it when he smoked; not always with the nicest of words. Since he was walking home alone he figured that right now it didn't matter.

The next morning when Temari was leaving her room to go to the council meeting she noticed something fall from the door jamb as she opened the door. She immediately leapt backwards into her room and took out a kunai thinking that someone had set a trap, but when she looked through the open door before her the only thing that she saw was a folded piece of paper lying on the ground. She curiously walked over to it and picked it up. As she unfolded it she began to see the message inside and half expected it to be from Shikamaru. When she had fully unfolded it, however, it was obvious that this note was not from Shikamaru. The note was actually fairly brutal reading:

_Sand Ambassador,_

_I seek retribution for a wrong done to my family by the monster that has been named Kazekage_. _As the representative for Suna village I would like to settle this matter with you once and for all. Meet me on the other side of the Forest of Death, about an hour's journey outside the Leaf village, after the council meeting today so that we can settle this like shinobi. If you do not respond and meet me I will assume that Sand ninjas truly have no honor as your monster of a Kazekage once demonstrated and that you are a coward who would not dare to show their face before a challenger._

As Temari read more of the letter more and more anger burned inside her. When she had read the letter all the way through she crumpled it in her hand and let her hand drop to her side keeping the crushed paper in her fist. She silently vowed that whoever dared to disrespect not only her Kazekage, but also her brother this way would pay. Based on the way that the letter was addressed to the 'Sand Ambassador' this person clearly had no idea who they were messing with and Temari would not allow them to live to regret it. She would definitely meet them, and she would teach them to respect the Kazekage as well as all ninjas from the Village Hidden in the Sand. She closed her door and locked it before heading to the meeting. All the way there Temari consciously tried to calm her temper and stop clenching her fists so tightly, but by the time she arrived at the meeting she had only had minimal success. She was tense throughout the entire meeting and even found her mind wandering a few times. The only thing she could focus on was that she was going to put this ninja who dared to insult Gaara and her people in their place: six feet under. As soon as the meeting finished she quickly rose and began to make her way to the other side of the Forest of Death.

What she had not noticed in her rush was that Shikamaru had been waiting for her outside the meeting hall. He was currently still on break to rest up from a previous mission, so he had thought of meeting Temari after her first of many meetings had ended. He had been leaning against the wall in the shade just a few feet from the door waiting for the meeting to end when he had seen Temari exit the building and quickly run off. He did not know what was wrong, but based on how she seemed to be running as though her life depended on it he knew that something was definitely going on. His gut instinct was to run after her, but he took a moment to decide what he should do. Something about this situation did not seem right to him, so he decided to follow in case his intuition was correct and Temari ended up getting into trouble and needing back up. _This is going to be troublesome,_ he thought as he raced after her trying to keep his distance so as not to incur her wrath for not respecting her privacy. Normally he would respect her privacy, he thought, after all he trusted her and he wasn't incredibly curious, but something felt off about this situation and if something did happen to Temari he did not want to live the rest of his life knowing that he could have done something. His suspicions were confirmed when he reached the Forest of Death. As a foreign dignitary Temari had no reason to be going so far out of town, there was definitely something fishy about this, he thought. What reason could she have for running so deep into the forest?

Temari raced through the forest prepared to release her righteous fury at any moment. As she neared the spot where she was supposed to meet the note's author she scanned the trees around her in case the shinobi planned on ambushing her. She proceeded more cautiously until she reached a high tree branch that had a clear view of the forest below.

"For a minute there I thought you weren't coming," said a smooth male voice from above her. Temari quickly jumped to an adjacent tree so that she could get a good view of her opponent. He was a slim man dressed in a dark blue shirt with a high, wide collar that covered his chin. A mask that resembled an ANBU mask concealed his face, but he was clearly not one of the Konoha ANBU. This mask did not conform to the face as well and did not resemble any kind of animal as the Konoha ANBU masks did. In fact this mask was plain white except for some dark blue swirls in the cheek area.

"Let's not fight here," the man told her and proceeded to run off into the forest ahead of Temari. This just further aggravated her and she followed without missing a beat. They did not travel long before they came to a stop again. The man turned to face her then started laughing manically for no apparent reason.

"You really are predictable Temari of the Sand," the masked man declared. "Did you really not consider that this could be a trap set solely for you and have nothing to do with your precious Kazekage or Suna village?" he asked condescendingly while making some incredibly fast hand signs. When he had finished speaking his hand signs also stopped and Temari immediately felt several sharp pains in her side. She began gasping for breath like a fish out of water and started to feel light headed. This caused her to sway, lose her footing, and fall off the tree branch she had been standing on plummeting hundreds of feet toward the ground below. Just as the world was getting fuzzy around the edges and beginning to fade to black she heard something that sounded like a small explosion. Then she found that she was no longer falling but she was still moving; being carried by someone. She strained her eyes trying to see who it was that had caught her. As she did her head swam and as the world began to fade again she was not certain whether she was still conscious.

"Don't go to sleep, Temari," commanded the anxious voice of her rescuer. She knew this voice. It was as familiar to her as the back of her hand, yet at the moment she couldn't remember who it belonged to. She tried again to see who was carrying her, but her eyes refused to give her more than a blurry outline. She closed her eyes; maybe if she slept a little her eyes would be able to focus better.

"Come on, stay with me!" the voice pleaded sounding more desperate. _Why won't he just let me sleep?! _Temari thought frustrated. The voice sounded farther away this time, so maybe she was nearly asleep. Her head suddenly began to feel very heavy, so she let it droop against his chest.

"Temari!" the voice exclaimed beginning to sound frantic. "Breathe!" he urged her, "I know you can! Just stay awake!" Temari had not noticed that she had stopped breathing and she began to realize that something was wrong as she took in a rattling breath. It was much harder to breathe than it should have been and for some reason it felt like it wasn't working. She laboriously took in another shallow breath noticing that the air seemed to do nothing for her. Her lungs started burning and she began to hyperventilate trying to take in enough air. With each shallow breath she felt a pain in her side become more and more intense and her breathing slowed in response; trying to minimize the pain. She became aware that a wet spot was spreading across the side that the pain was coming from. Was she…bleeding? She fought to stay conscious, trying to grasp what had happened to her. She squinted her eyes open barely able to lift her heavy eyelids and lifted her head slightly. This time she was able to make out a Konoha forehead protector strapped to the arm of her savior.

"Shikamaru…" she whispered weakly before her head slumped back against his chest and the darkness finally consumed her.

"I'm here, Temari," he assured her trying to remain calm, but failing miserably. "Temari?! Wake up!" Shikamaru begged as hot tears began to stream out of his eyes and be blown into the wind due to the speed that he was travelling at. This time there was no response, no rough intake of breath to let him know that she was still fighting.

He stopped for a moment pressing his ear to her chest to listen for a heartbeat. What he heard was slightly encouraging as he discovered a slow heartbeat. At least she was still alive. Then he noticed that there was no rise and fall of her chest. Shikamaru knew that she wouldn't last much longer if she wasn't getting any oxygen. He also knew that he could not allow her to die. He had already lost Asuma and could not bear to lose someone else who was important to him. Losing Temari as well was…unthinkable. Tears continued to stream down his face as he knelt down and carefully laid her body across his lap. He then supported her head with one hand and used the other to plug her nose as he fitted his lips to hers and breathed life giving air into her lungs. He gave her several breaths waiting a few seconds between each so as not to overload and burst her lungs. He was rewarded when her heart rate improved a little. He quickly picked her up again holding her close to his chest and continued his breakneck pace back to the village. He periodically checked her heart rate and was nearing the edge of the Forest of Death when he stopped to give her more air. When he finally got her to the hospital he didn't have to utter a word before several medical ninjas took Temari off his hands and rapidly whisked her into the nearest vacant room.

Shikamaru collapsed onto a bench outside of the room. His heart was racing and he was still unable to control the tears streaming freely down his face or his shaking hands. He leaned forward resting his elbows against his thighs and putting his head in his hands. He dug his fingers into his hair hoping that this was not really happening and he was just having a particularly vivid nightmare, but deep down he knew that was not the case. He had in fact seen the only woman he had ever had feelings for almost killed right before his eyes. When he had seen the four kunai knives strike her and embed themselves in the flesh between her ribs it seemed to happen in slow motion. He had just enough time to throw a couple of his own kunai with paper bombs attached to distract the enemy before catching Temari and racing off at top speed. He did not believe that he had been pursued, but then it was pretty obvious where he would take her. Shikamaru removed a hand from his head and clutched at his pounding heart as his tears began to splash onto the floor. It felt like he had been the one stabbed with a kunai- right through the heart.

It seemed like he had waited there for hours when a medical ninja in a familiar pink skirt stood before him. Shikamaru quickly wiped his sleeves across his face before standing to speak with Sakura.

"She'll live," Sakura informed him seriously, "but it'll probably take her a while to recuperate. The kunai knives had punctured her lung and it collapsed when we removed them. We were able to repair it in time, but there's no telling how long she might be out for at this point." After hearing that Temari would be alright Shikamaru was so relieved that he felt weak at the knees and the pain in his heart began to subside.

"Do you know what happened?" Sakura asked gently, "We'll have to send a report to the Kazekage that his delegate was injured, so…"

"It was an assassin," Shikamaru replied. He had only gotten a glimpse of the shinobi's mask, but it was enough to know that he was an assassin; the lack of markings on his mask betrayed that.

"Anything else?" Sakura asked.

"It's safe to assume that he knows where I've taken her," Shikamaru warned, "so there should be someone guarding her at all times in case he decides to try to finish the job." As he finished speaking he began to feel light headed. Sakura put a comforting hand on his back and started to direct him toward the exit. Shikamaru, who was so physically and emotionally drained by this point that he began to feel disoriented, obediently allowed Sakura to guide him all the way to the exit.

"You should go home," she told him, "You're in shock right now, so you should take it easy for the rest of the day." Once outside he followed wherever his feet lead him not caring where he ended up, but eventually he discovered that he was on his way home. When he got there he went directly to his room and collapsed into bed without a word. What had just happened seemed so surreal to him that he half expected to wake up and find that none of it had actually happened.

The next morning Shikamaru woke up in a cold sweat, panting. He had dreamt of the previous day's events, except in his nightmare he hadn't been there in time to save Temari and had watched helplessly as her limp body fell hundreds of feet before meeting the ground below. The dream had been vivid and he couldn't get the sound of her bones cracking when she hit the ground or the sight of her broken body lying in a contorted position out of his head. He shuddered recalling the shocked expression on her face when she had been hit by the kunai knives that she had never seen coming. Shikamaru sat up in bed and shook his head trying to get all of these depressing thoughts out. The nightmare had made him anxious to see Temari partially so that he could prove to himself that it had in fact been a dream. He had slept in his regular clothes so he didn't bother changing. He made his way to the kitchen and said a quick hello to his parents before grabbing something off the table to eat on the way and heading out the door.

When he got to the hospital he went directly to Temari's room, but upon entering he thought that he had gotten the room number wrong. He stared for a moment before noticing Temari's fan resting against the wall at the bedside of the woman with chin length sandy blonde hair who occupied the room. She wore a light blue hospital robe, undoubtedly her torn and blood stained dress had been discarded. He sat down in the chair at her bedside. He had never seen her asleep before and she looked more peaceful than he ever recalled seeing her before. He had also never seen her with her hair down before and as he pondered this it crossed his mind that she looked pretty with her hair this way. Normally she was such a tomboy that he never considered applying that word to her yet it was so true; she was beautiful. He saw her brow crease and became hopeful that she might wake up. It soon smoothed out, however, and she continued to sleep as peacefully as before. Shikamaru let his breath out. He did not realize he had been holding it and he sighed thinking that he was far too jumpy right now. Having proved to himself that Temari was indeed alive and recovering he sat back in his chair and began to watch clouds through the window on the opposite side of Temari's room. He put both hands behind his head and laced his fingers together making himself comfortable because he figured that he would be here for a while. Temari was not expected to wake up any time soon, but he was determined to be there when she did. Having a legitimate reason to laze around and watch the clouds all day was an added benefit.

Every morning after that he would get up, get ready for the day and go visit Temari in the hospital waiting for the day that she would wake up. On the third day of this ritual Choji and Ino were deployed on a short mission with Kakashi. Tsunade had chosen not to assign Shikamaru to this mission knowing that if he was with Temari the Sand Ambassador would be safe. She considered protecting Temari to be his unofficial mission and called off the ANBU guard she had assigned to protecting Temari during the day as this shift seemed to overlap with Shikamaru's daily visit.

Temari stayed in her comatose state for over a week occasionally stirring, but otherwise laying placidly in her bed. As Shikamaru stared out the window yawning one day he noticed Temari's eyelids begin to flicker. Shikamaru sat up and watched her intently as her eyes slowly fluttered open for the first time in what felt like forever. A smile spread across his face as she blinked the sleep from her eyes before opening them completely.

"Hey, look who decided to join us in the land of the living," Shikamaru teased.

"Shut up," Temari returned drowsily as she squinted at her surroundings and Shikamaru came into view. She was happy to see him, but she couldn't remember where she was or what had happened to her.

"What happened?" Temari asked groggily. She remembered getting injured and falling, but not much of what happened after that. She realized that she didn't even know what day it was or how long she had been unconscious.

"Nothing much," answered Shikamaru dismissively crossing his arms in front of himself, "you were just nearly assassinated and ended up with a collapsed lung."

"Hey enough with the sass," Temari chided putting a hand on her aching forehead. "I remember taking a hit to the side and falling…then the next thing I knew I wasn't falling anymore…you were there and it was hard to breathe…and then I woke up here."

"Those are some big memory gaps," Shikamaru commented scratching the back of his head. "Something wrong with your head?" he asked after a pause noticing how she kept her hand there.

"I just have a headache," she told him, "That's probably the least of my worries though, huh?"

"I don't know," said Shikamaru sarcastically, "headache," he said raising one hand, "collapsed lung," he said raising the other as if they were a pair of scales, "sounds pretty equal to me."

"Shut up," Temari replied taking her hand off of her head to swat at him playfully. Shikamaru caught her hand and laced his fingers through hers. Temari smiled at him; sometimes when she was in Suna she missed simple things like being able to hold his hand. She stared at his face thoughtfully he must have really known that something was wrong to follow her that far out of the village.

"I can't believe you followed me all the way out there," Temari mused disbelievingly.

"It was troublesome, but I didn't want anything to happen to you," Shikamaru told her matter of factly before leaning down to plant a soft kiss on Temari's forehead. She closed her eyes as he did this savoring the moment. She opened her eyes and looked up at Shikamaru as he sat down next to her again and continued to hold her hand.

"Thank you," she said sincerely, "Without you I'd probably be dead in the middle of nowhere right now. I guess I owe you one."

"Whatever," Shikamaru replied nonchalantly, "I didn't do it so you would owe me."

"Then why _did _you do it?" asked Temari playfully. Shikamaru blushed and looked down at their linked hands. They had been together for a while now, but he had never been good at expressing his feelings and he still wasn't.

"Awww, come on Shikamaru, you can say it," Temari encouraged him in a mocking tone. Shikamaru looked at her face and gave her a half smile.

"It sounds like you already know the reason," he observed, "and if that's the case I won't take the trouble to explain it."

"You're such a party pooper," Temari moped feigning annoyance. She crossed her arms in front of her causing Shikamaru's hand to slide out of hers and looked away from him out the window in a mock pout. Shikamaru sighed. Temari wasn't exactly what you would call high maintenance, but she took advantage of the fact that she was more assertive than he was and seemed to enjoy putting him in situations that made him blush. Shikamaru reclaimed her hand and Temari turned back to him.

"It'll make me feel better if you say it," she insisted patting her bandaged side with her free hand and instantly regretting it. She winced and as if by reflex squeezed Shikamaru's hand as tightly as she could. Then she took a deep breath and proceeded to let it out slowly willing the pain to subside.

"Are you alright?" Shikamaru asked anxiously. Temari continued to take deep, measured breaths and let them out slowly until the pain was mostly gone.

"Yeah," Temari finally replied.

"Then can you loosen your death grip?" he asked half amused that she had forgotten she was squeezing his hand so hard. Temari loosened her grip and took a few more slow breaths before she felt better.

"You're still not off the hook ya know," she reminded him.

"What are you talking about?" asked Shikamaru playing dumb.

"You know," Temari responded pointing an accusatory finger at him, "That might work with your mom but it won't work with me."

"Fine," he sighed looking down again. Throughout the time they had been together he found that it was easier to let her win than to make her admit defeat and suffer the consequences.

"Look me in the eye," Temari instructed. Shikamaru reluctantly did as he was told.

"Good, now why did you save me and carry me all the way back to the village?" she asked. As the words left her mouth it dawned on her all the effort he must have put into making sure that she came through this alright.

"Because…I love you," Shikamaru answered trying hard to continue looking her in the eye even as his face began to feel hot. _He looks so cute when he blushes like that, _thought Temari as the door opened.

"Ooooh, look who's gettin' all lovey dovey," Ino teased as she came into the room carrying a bouquet of flowers. Temari eyed the bouquet Ino was placing on the side table with confusion.

"Who's that from?" she asked bewildered.

"Well since you're an ambassador your…incident had to be reported to the Kazekage," Ino explained a little uncomfortably feeling as if she was admitting to Temari that they told on her, "and well it was explained that you might be here for a while, so your brothers ordered them for you."

"Really?" asked Temari in surprise. She had never pegged her brothers as the flower giving type. _I guess this just proves they were worried about me, _Temari thought staring at the beautiful arrangement of purple and white flowers. _Wait, if they sent flowers does that mean they thought I was dying or something? _puzzled Temari.

"Do you know what exactly the Kazekage was told about my condition," she inquired turning to Ino.

"Nope, sorry," Ino replied. After a short silence Ino spoke again. "Well I guess I'll let you two get back to your sweet nothings," she said coyly winking at Shikamaru before exiting the room and closing the door behind her.

"My brothers must have been really worried," Temari mused, "What do you think they told Gaara?"

"The truth," Shikamaru answered shortly, "you were in pretty bad shape when I got you back to the village…you weren't even breathing anymore." Temari stared at Shikamaru shocked at what she was hearing. She knew that she had lost consciousness while Shikamaru was carrying her back to the village, but she had never guessed that she had been on the brink of death.

"If I wasn't breathing how did you know I wasn't…" Temari trailed off.

"I wasn't gonna let you go that easily," Shikamaru smirked, "If you died then you would be the lazy bum lying around all day, and that wouldn't suit you at all. Besides…" he trailed off muttering something under his breath.

"What?" questioned Temari.

Shikamaru blushed again and looked away from her. "Forget about it," he told her.

"What did you say?" she inquired earnestly.

"I said 'besides when you stopped breathing I breathed for you'," he reluctantly reiterated.

"You did that for me?" Temari asked stunned, "but…but I thought I had a collapsed lung…so how did that even…work?"

"You still had one lung that was working," Shikamaru reminded her, "you just weren't getting enough air with it…so I…gave you more air." Shikamaru finished uncomfortably. Temari stared at Shikamaru in amazement as she digested this news. She knew that she would be dead if Shikamaru had not intervened, but she had not realized until this moment how truly hopeless her condition had been, yet he had not given up on her. She could only imagine how scary the situation had been for him, and he had gone through all of this because she had allowed herself to be provoked and made a bad decision.

"Thank you," she began gratefully not knowing how to fully express the extent of her gratitude. "Looking after me must have been a real pain," she remarked giving him a small smile as a tear streamed down her face.

"In a manner of speaking," he replied placing their intertwined hands over his heart. "You're such a troublesome woman…but you're the only one who's worth the trouble," he finished smiling at her and placing their linked hands back at her side.

His brow furrowed as he inquired, "Why did you go running into a trap like that? That's not like you." Temari sighed and looked away.

"The masked ninja left me a note at my hotel that made me really angry," she admitted, "He called Gaara a monster and said that Sand ninjas had no honor. He seemed to know that the pride and anger the letter would arouse would cloud my judgment and I would come to meet him when I should have analyzed the situation before running off like I did." Shikamaru sighed. She did have quite the temper. He even considered her to be scarier than his mom and that was saying something.

"Well there's no sense beating yourself up about it now," Shikamaru pointed out, "You'll only aggravate your condition."

"I guess," she replied still ashamed that she had been such an easy catch. She thought back to the last time she had seen Shikamaru after his friends had been severely injured in battle. He had cried then which resulted in her nick naming him Mr. Cry baby. "Hey, did you cry?" she wondered out loud.

"N-no! Why would I?!" Shikamaru lied unconvincingly.

"You liar! I bet you did, Mr. Cry baby," Temari taunted. _Will I never live that name down? _Shikamaru wondered. He shook it off and went on to a new topic. There were things she needed to know after being out for so long.

"Another Sand Ambassador was sent along with several Sand ANBU to finish the negotiations," he informed her, "They were ordered to wait until you recovered and escort you home."

"How far along are the negotiations?" asked Temari.

"I believe they're nearly done," answered Shikamaru.

"What?!" exclaimed Temari, "Those negotiations were supposed to take about two weeks! How long have I been here?!" Shikamaru mentally calculated ticking the days off on his fingers.

"About nine days," he replied.

"Great," groaned Temari. She sighed, upset with herself for getting into this situation. She had never been incapacitated this long before and what was worse the negotiations she had missed were very important for the Sand Village which was why Gaara had sent her specifically in the first place. She couldn't help feeling that she had let him down by ending up bedridden for so long.

"Hey, calm down," Shikamaru advised noticing her becoming more tense. He used his thumb to rub the back of her hand in a soothing, circular motion trying to get her to relax. He kept her company until a medical ninja entered the room to change the fluids in Temari's IV. Noting that she was now awake the medical ninja asked Temari if she felt up to starting her rehabilitation exercises the next day. Temari agreed wanting to get out of the hospital as soon as possible. She felt vulnerable just lying here which made her anxious to recover as soon as possible.

The next day Temari began breathing exercises under medical direction. Even though her collapsed lung had been repaired it was still weak so the exercises were necessary to strengthen it. Shikamaru would usually come and see her after she was done with rehab for the day and find her out of breath and holding her aching side. This was because she had expressed her wish to leave the hospital as soon as possible to the medical ninja who, after concluding that she could handle it, took her through the exercises double time. She was almost always sore, but her hard work and determination paid off when she was discharged from the hospital three days earlier than expected. The negotiations had finished by this time and she informed the Sand ANBU of her progress and her wish to return to Suna as soon as possible. They replied that they were ready to leave as soon as she was, so they decided to leave Konoha the next morning.

Because it was her last night in Konoha she had dinner with Shikamaru that night. She had not told him that she would be leaving in the morning yet, so she decided to tell him now that they had finished eating.

"I'll be leaving in the morning," Temari stated as though it were a passing comment.

"You sure you're ready for a long trip so soon?" asked Shikamaru with concern.

"I'll be fine," Temari assured him confidently, "I wouldn't have been discharged if I couldn't handle the trip back and besides I can't stay away from my village for too long." Shikamaru had the sudden impulse to ask her to stay, but he knew that was out of the question. Temari always prioritized her duty to her village before everything else.

"Hey we should do something tonight," suggested Temari cutting into his thoughts, "I haven't seen you much outside of the hospital." She was disappointed that she had not been able to spend much time with him outside the hospital where she had often been either preoccupied by the pain she was feeling or exhausted from her intense rehab exercises. Now that she had completely recovered she wanted to do something with him before she left.

"Any preferences?" he asked knowing that she most likely already had something in mind.

"I want to watch the fireflies before I leave," she answered. There were no fireflies in the desert, so Temari loved watching them when she came to Konoha partially because she knew it was something that Shikamaru also enjoyed.

"Am I rubbing off on you?" he smirked. The first time he had taken her to his cloud watching field to watch the fireflies she had been very impatient and kept complaining about how he was wasting her time until the first fireflies came out. She had been mystified by their beauty and watched them with much curiosity saying that she had never seen anything like them before. She had been hooked on watching them whenever she came to Konoha ever since.

Since they had already finished their meal they made their way to Shikamaru's usual spot to watch the fireflies. Shikamaru sat cross legged on the ground and expected Temari to sit beside him as she usually did, but tonight she sat in his lap resting her head against his shoulder. He put his arms around her waist and they watched the fireflies begin to glide around them. The fireflies floated freely through the night like tiny lanterns as the couple watched them in silence, not needing words to share the serenity of the moment. Temari watched the fireflies dance around them until they started to blur when her heavy eyelids began to close and she snoozed lightly resting against Shikamaru. Shikamaru let her rest for a while knowing that she had a big day being discharged from the hospital and making arrangements to leave all in the same day. He loved how much she cared for her village and couldn't bear to be parted from it for too long even though this meant that she would have to leave Konoha. He wondered how she felt when _they _were parted. Was she as eager to be reunited with him as she was to return to Suna? He knew that when she was gone he never felt quite whole and this feeling seemed to get worse each time she left. He couldn't help wondering if she felt the same. A firefly buzzing close to his face brought him back to reality and he decided that it was time to wake up Temari.

"Temari," he called softly caressing her cheek with the back of his hand. She was a light sleeper and immediately began to rub her eyes drowsily. He helped her to her feet and they walked back to her hotel hand in hand. On the way back he informed her that he would see her off in the morning to which she nodded still not completely awake. Shikamaru smiled thinking that she was cute when she was sleepy. He then gave her a short hug and bid her good night before starting to make his way home.

The next morning Shikamaru met her outside her hotel and walked with her to the village gate where the other Suna ambassador and the Sand ANBU were waiting.

"Thanks for coming to see me off," said Temari turning to face Shikamaru. "I'll miss you," she told him as she enveloped him in a tight hug.

"Then you should hurry back," he smirked as he hugged her just as tightly in return, releasing her just when the other sand ambassador was beginning to get uncomfortable. Temari then turned to leave but hesitated seeming to be having an internal debate. After a moment she turned back to Shikamaru and threw her arms around his neck before pulling him close and softly pressing her lips to his. Being their first real kiss it was short and sweet and left Shikamaru momentarily dazed. A blush began to color his face as Temari stepped away from him.

"You've been smoking, haven't you?" she accused placing her hands on her hips.

"Quitting would be troublesome," he explained making it sound like common sense.

"Then I guess I'll have to straighten you out the next time I come to Konoha," she threatened before smiling.

Shikamaru knew that he was off the hook for now and returned her smile before she turned to leave with the ANBU escort. She joined the escort to start the journey home waving a final farewell to Shikamaru as she walked through the village gate. Watching Temari leave was bitter sweet for Shikamaru. He knew that he would miss her while she was gone, but he also knew that she would come back sometime relatively soon and that was definitely something to look forward to.


End file.
